3:00 AM
by jemsimmons
Summary: Ward has insomnia, and he doesn't seem to be the only one. He ends up overhearing a conversation between Fitzsimmons about something that happened in the Hub during his last mission, and realizes he hasn't thanked the person who, along with Simmons and May, saved his life. Warning: 1x07 spoilers


Grant Ward couldn't sleep. It was around 3AM and he was unable to keep his eyes closed long enough to fall asleep. He wouldn't stop looking around, as if there was much to see in his "bedroom"—that's too small to be called a proper bedroom—or endlessly shifting positions in his bunk. It didn't take much time for him to start sweating a bit; the blanket wasn't helping so he wrapped it like a deformed ball and threw it near his feet.

That was unusual. Considering all his training and stuff, he was used to being too alert to be able to fall asleep easily. The weird thing was, that exact day, he had no reason to be so restless. He had just completed his last mission with Leo Fitz, to disable an overkill device in South Ossetia. The mission had been a success, despite the twist in the end. Everyone was safe, and the device, properly disabled. Ward came to the conclusion that he was just having a random night of insomnia, which happens once in a while, and he'd already learned the lesson: trying too hard to sleep will only make it harder. That said, he decided to quit fighting.

He grabbed his white T-shirt near the bed and put it on, then elbowed the door open. The first thing he noticed as he stepped out was that, apparently, someone else couldn't sleep either. He heard low voices coming from the living area. Wait—_voices_. The one with the British accent was doing most of the talking, so he had no trouble guessing who was there. As he approached the area in slow pacing, he began to understand a few words of what Simmons was saying, and it caught his attention immediately.

"…and I had to shoot Agent Sitwell, in order to plug in the flash drive that gave Skye access to the Hub's mainframe."

Ward's jaw dropped in astonishment. Skye got access to _what_?! He silently walked closer and closer to the living area, curious. All he knew was that May had found them and did what they had thought was going to be done according to the extraction plan—except there wasn't one.

"And then…?" Fitz asks, chewing something crunchy (pretzels, if Ward had to bet on it).

The duo of scientists were sitting on the couch in their pajamas, legs crossed, the biochemist holding a bottle of water, and the engineer, a bowl of pretzels. They were having a normal conversation as if it wasn't 3AM.

"Then my part was done, Fitz. All I did was distracting the agent for a brief moment and shooting him with the Night-Night gun. The rest was up to Skye and Agent May." Simmons yawned.

Suddenly, while Fitz was looking in the opposite direction, his science partner became aware of Ward's presence.

"Is there a problem, Agent Ward?" She asked sarcastically.

Fitz turned to him quickly and the bowl almost fell from his hands.

"May I ask why the hell are you creeping up on us so late at night?" He asked, startled.

"I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd get—" Ward started, until he realized he didn't have to explain his reasons for being up so late to two people that were up so late. "I accidentally overheard you guys talking and… Simmons, what did you say Skye did?"

Both Simmons and Fitz smirked, forcing Ward to wonder if he had said something funny. They were always so in sync it looked like they were mentally connected.

"She hacked into the level 8 secure server to search for _your_ operation plan," she gestured at both Ward and Fitz, "and discovered about the lack of an extraction plan. So we told May and she… Well, she did her _thing_."

Ward resisted the urge to smile as he listened to the short story, and managed to maintain his emotionless expression, even though his eyes were showing how blown away and thankful he was.

In the middle of her process to prove herself trustworthy to the team, Skye had risked her chance to become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to save Ward and Fitz. He couldn't believe she had actually hacked the Hub's system. It was quite shocking that she didn't brag a little about it after her welcome-back punch to his shoulder right after they returned. Was she embarrassed to show that she had been, maybe, worried about them? The thought was pleasing, to be honest. Ward was constantly worrying about protecting pretty much everyone around him; it was nice to know the other way around happened too.

Although Skye had betrayed them once, Ward knew that the team was like a family to her—the family she didn't have. Ward had realized that a few times, but especially after seeing how devastated she had been when Jemma Simmons had almost died because of a Chitauri virus. The two of them hadn't known each other for so long, but that hadn't stopped Skye from tearing up like she was watching a sister pass away.

"Thank you, Simmons." He said, truly grateful, knowing he and Fitz would certainly have died hadn't the three girls done what they did.

"Oh, shooting a superior officer and dragging his heavy, unconscious body wasn't a big deal!" She joked, with a grin on her face. "You should thank Skye."

Ward nodded and started walking back to his bunk. On the way, though, passing by Skye's door, he did something quite impulsive. He only did that because, somehow, he knew Skye would take seconds to go back to sleep if he woke her up for a minute. Instead of invading the bedroom and catching her off guard, he knocked a few times. He hoped she'd open quickly, before Fitz or Simmons could notice what he was doing. After approximately half a minute, she opened, looking like… Well, looking like she'd just been woken up in the middle of the night. She was running her hands through her messed up hair, her eyes were barely open, and she was wearing grey shorts that he could barely see due to the size of her purple T-shirt. It wouldn't be sincere to say she didn't look cute. However, she didn't seem very appreciative of Ward's showing at on her door.

"What the _hell_ are you doing here?" She looked behind her to check the clock, which marked 3:17AM, and her pissed-off expression was replaced by a tense one. "What is happening?"

"No, nothing happened, everything's okay", he guaranteed. "Lower your voice. If anyone else wakes up and sees me here, they will think… It's not going to be nice."

"Oh, for heaven's sake," she complains, pulling him into the bedroom. Before closing the door, she turned on a lampshade beside her bunk that provided light enough for them to see each other. She was even more pissed off, and he immediately regretted his retarded decision. Too late, though. "Seriously, what is wrong with you, man? It's 3AM!"

"I just wanted to thank you… for what you did today." He says, and it feels weird. Ward doesn't normally have to thank people for saving his life; he's more used to the contrary.

"Thank me?" Skye asked, confused.

"I just found out about what you did back in the Hub, thought I'd come here and say thanks." Ward could swear that his explanation for showing up at her door that late hadn't sounded so weird in his head.

Skye stared at him, unconvinced. "Let me get this straight. You're in my room at 3AM to _thank me_ for saving your life?" She waited for a more specific explanation, which she didn't get. Ward just nodded. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" He confronts. "You know, you could just say 'you're welcome'."

"Is that _really_ why you're here? Are you sure? I'm not trying to imply anything, but it's 3AM. I'm sure your gratitude could've waited until the morning." She slightly smiled. "What else is going on here, Agent Grant Ward?"

"Absolutely nothing," he lies. Something else was obviously going on—he just didn't know what it was yet. All he could wrap his brain around was how lovely Skye looked when she was mad, particularly when she was mad _and_ wearing a T-shirt that could fit two of her. "Sorry, I'm leaving. You can go back to sleep."

He turned around and touched the door to open it, but the girl held him by his left elbow, forcing him to look at her again.

"Wait, I was… I was just kidding." She stuttered, and her tone was completely different from how she sounded before he tried to leave. "You don't have to go."

"Skye, I meant what I said. I simply wanted to thank you. That's all." He let go of her touch on his arm, not wanting to be rude, and turned to the door once more.

This time, she didn't try to stop him; instead, she giggled mockingly. "Yeah,_ right_."

Ward, annoyed, rolled his eyes as he looked at her to confront her one last time.

"Since you seem to know what I wanted more than I do, would you _please_ share your thoughts?" He begs. "Because I—"

He was cut off by her lips against his. After a second of pure shock, he responded; one of his hands sprung up to her face and the other reached firmly to her waist. Skye stood on the tip of her toes and held onto his shirt for balance, due to their height difference. The kiss unfortunately wasn't long, but enough for clueless Ward to notice what else was going on between them. That wasn't just a kiss. It was likely the beginning of something, and Ward liked the thought of that. He didn't know then, but Skye quite enjoyed the possibility too.

When their lips parted, he finally noticed how much he had wanted this. He rested both of his hands on her waist, reluctant to increase—even in the smallest—the distance between their bodies. He could feel her warm and quick breaths on his skin, and the proximity made it easier for Ward to pull her as close as possible and start another kiss. Her face lightened up with a sarcastic half-smile, but her eyes were filled with something else. _That_ something else.

Skye's face approached his again, but this time their lips didn't touch. Instead, she grinned and whispered teasingly in his ears:

"You're welcome."

* * *

**Thanks to my friend Be (lovegkp on Twitter) for ideas and a lot of motivation to write my first Skyeward fanfic. I quite appreciate reviews, by the way. Just saying. Thank you so much for reading!**


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